Principal’s Report

Dear Parents and students,

I would like to welcome you all back to the educational school year of 2017. We are very excited about the fresh start of a new academic year, which we believe will bring happiness, success and joy to our students, school and family community.

We had an outstanding year full of achievements in 2016. Our Sirius College Eastmedows girls campus has continued its success in VCE with an ATAR score of 98.50 by Zamzam Wardere and 97.20 from Teba Mazin; the highest scores for Sirius College in 2016. This represents years of hard work, commitment and dedication, and will mark a turning point in their lives. I would like to congratulate them on their outstanding ATAR scores and wish them all the best for their future endeavours. I would like to thank them for their hard work and wish them success in the future. I would also like to congratulate Teba Mazin on her academic scholarship from Monash University Faculty of Engineering.

Our aim at Sirius College is to provide the highest quality of education to our students and to provide them with the life skills to develop a bright future. Although we are an academic school, with the majority of our students aiming to pursue their education at a tertiary level, we support alternative pathways and acknowledge that success isn’t determined by a university degree. Resilience and the ability to “bounce-back” is an important skill. Remember: when one door closes, another opens. We all learn differently and bloom at all ages in life. Have faith in your abilities and never give up. On a side note, parents are pretty skilled at giving “real life” lessons. Continue to talk, listen and receive advice from them. They have learned from their mistakes and will give you advice so that you can be saved from the anxiety and stress.

We have introduced exciting curriculum additions in the form of electives. There are new exciting electives such as farming and agriculture, Arabic and French. We believe that leaning happens when the knowledge is practiced.

In 2017 we are planning to prepare our students for national and international projects. I believe that our students will flourish and write their names into college history. In particular, our international science competitions run my Mr Jamie. He has worked tirelessly with our students in preparation for their USA trip and I thank him for all of his efforts. We are excited to announce our inaugural musical Annie Jr. Mrs. Anna Gallo and Ms Madeleine Currie have cast the students and begun rehearsals, keep updated by checking their Facebook updates on our page. We wish them all the very best throughout the production. In addition to the musical, we are hosting the International Festival of Language and Culture this year at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre. International students from over 20 countries will perform with our students celebrating unity and diversity.

I would like to warmly welcome our year 7 and new students. We are now in week 5, still in transition, but I believe they are feeling like a part of the Sirius College family now. We understand the shift from grade 6 to year 7 can be daunting, but with the support of their coordinator, Ms Esra and their teachers, I believe they are skilled, more independent and ready for secondary school experiences.

I would like to finish with a quote from well know scholar Mevlana Jalaladdin Rumi. He says: “why should I stay at the bottom of a well, when a strong rope is in my hand?”

Warm Regards,